Bodily Injury Liability Coverage

To get a better understanding of what this kind of coverage is, first it is necessary to explain the definition of car insurance. Car insurance comprises six basic types of coverage, and each person is free to determine which they want on their car insurance policy. This coverage can be part of the policy from the moment the contract between the insurance company and the customer is signed, or they can be added or suspended at the will of the person insured. These six types of coverage encompass a regular car insurance policy, and the premium is the total value of these six types of coverage.

Among those six types, the bodily injury liability is perhaps one of the most important of them all, as we explain below.

Bodily Injury Liability

This coverage will protect you in case you’re declared responsible for an accident in which a third party has been physically injured or has died as a result of the incident.

The bodily injury liability coverage protects the people affected by the incident, but not the vehicles involved. This is why it’s a good idea to have another very important coverage on your car insurance policy: the property damages liability. This type of coverage pays all damages you may have caused to someone else’s property while driving your (a) car.

If you’re involved in an accident, and after a trial you have been declared legally responsible for the incident, you will be declared liable for the damages occurred to a third party. This liability might include such expenses as:

  • Hospital and medical bills
  • Rehabilitation treatments
  • Physical and psychological damages
  • Compensation for loss of income

But this is not all. The party (ies) affected might file a lawsuit for all loss and damages as a result of the accident. If the total amount of this loss exceeds the total amount covered on your policy, you might have to pay the remaining from your own pocket. It’s then wise to get the best coverage possible for bodily injury liabilty and property damage, to protect your financial stability and have permanent peace of mind.

Limits of Coverage

Take a look at your current policy, and pay attention to the bodily injury coverage. It might include a combined single limit or it might have three different amounts, typically called divided limits.

Let’s explain this with an example. Your policy stipulates that the total amount to pay for all bodily injury liability, regardless of how many people are injured in the accident, is $100.00. This amount will be the combined single limit and you’ll be responsible for paying any other amount if the total sum due is higher than this limit.

If your policy includes divided limits, you might see amounts like 50,000/100,000/50,000. In this case, each amount is the limit of coverage for different issues related to the same incident. The first $50,000 is the total amount the insurance will pay for bodily injuries caused to those involved in the accident; $100,000 is the total amount of coverage for injuries caused to any other third parties and the last $50,000 will cover any property damages of a third party.

It’s important for consumers to remember that generally, this type of coverage protects the driver at all times, even when he or she is driving someone else’s car.

Take action right now and get car insurance quotes with the proper coverage here.